Love for Food

I had a little free time this weekend. I NEVER have free time. My weekends are filled with the gym, Weight Watcher Meetings, volunteering at the ASPCA, school work, catching up with friends, house chores and whatever else I didn't have time to get done during the week. But last weekend was the rare free weekend. No plans and no where to go. I can do whatever I pleased. And what I pleased was to try out a new "weekend" dish. A dish that takes a little more time and loving to come to fruition. But what to try? For a while now, I wanted to try a Julia Child recipe. I read her memoir and saw Julie and Julia. The final straw was when flipping through the channels, I stumbled across her cooking show. I don't think I ever saw a full episode and started to watch. Julia made a zucchini casserole with A LOT of butter. Looked great and reminded me I wanted to try one of her recipes. My mom suggested I try the chicken coq au vin (chicken in red wine sauce). Since my mom is trained in French cooking, I figured she knew best and gave it a shot. Besides I than had a good excuse to buy and drink some red wine :). No use in wasting the leftover. Make sure to buy a good quality wine or you will ruin your dish! I found the recipe at Tablespoon.com, here. It took A LOT more time to prepare than I usually spend on cooking. It was worth the extra time it took to cook. The chicken was moist and had a lot of deep flavor. The potatoes and veggies with it made the dish seem like a classy stew. It was delicious! Bon appetit. Ingredients: Serves Six

4 ounces bacon or salt pork (blanched to remove salt)
1 chicken (2 each bone in breasts, legs and thighs)
4 tablespoons European butter (divided)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 2 cloves garlic (ground or pureed) 1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 whole garden tomato
1 1/2 cups chicken stock (low sodium)
3 cups red wine (Zinfandel or table wine) Fresh parsley
1 dozen small white onions (braised to brownness )
3 cups mushroom Method:

• 
  Sauté the blanched bacon or salt pork until almost crispy and remove to a bowl for later. Brown the chicken in the pork fat, adding a little olive oil, if needed. Get the chicken crispy on all sides then add the chicken stock, wine, chopped tomato and seasoning and simmer for 20 minutes-- add the mushrooms half way through the cooking time.
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  Turn off the heat and remove the chicken to another bowl. Spoon off as much fat from the pan as you can. Whip the remaining two tablespoons of butter in a small food processor or by hand and add to the warm pan-- whisking to blend and thicken the sauce
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  Return the chicken pieces to the pan and heat gently as you baste. Add the bacon and serve.